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Putting the skids under street racing

By Wang Hongyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-28 11:50

Hangzhou, a popular destination for domestic and overseas tourist, is often voted China's safest city in online polls. But it has been blighted by a spate of road accidents this year.

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In March, a Mazda 6 hit and killed a young couple as they walked with their 5-month-old daughter, and then plunged into the Qiantang River. And on May 15, a speeding BMW hit a family of three riding an electric bicycle in Xiaoshan district. The parents survived but their daughter died.

Together, these incidents have prompted the nation's public security chiefs to launch a new campaign clamping down on drivers of high-performance cars, with officers issuing more tickets for illegal modifications and noise pollution.

But in addition, the government has also been urged to toughen the punishments for traffic violations.

Wu Dong, a lawyer for Shanghai M & A Law Firm, said that in China, the charge of a "traffic offence resulting in death" only has a punishment of seven years in prison and Hangzhou street racer Hu Bin should be charged with an offence against public safety.

"He knew his street racing may put pedestrians at risk. That is intentional behavior, not inattentive driving," he explained. "A measurement on 'illegal activities with predictable results' should be introduced to improve the law."

Speeding culture causing family tragedies

In the past month alone, one woman has been left in a coma and several other people injured in accidents on China's streets caused by speeding drivers, said traffic authorities.

A speeding BMW knocked down a woman in her 50s crossing Huaihai Road on May 14 in downtown Shanghai, throwing her 2 m into the air, according to eyewitnesses.

She is now in a coma and showing no signs of recovery. "Her heart is still beating but all other body functions rely on the machines now," said the victim's sister.

"Doctors said she is on the danger list, we don't know what to do next. Our whole family has been destroyed."

The driver was a university student in his 20s and, according to the Shanghai Traffic Safety Database, the BMW had been reported for speeding 13 times, local media reported.

An eyewitness surnamed Zang added that the car's engine sounded very loud, as if it "had been modified".

Two young drivers in top-class cars were also suspected of speeding following a collision in downtown Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province, last Sunday. No one was injured.

While in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, 10 people were injured when a drunken man driving over the speed limit plowed his Mercedes Benz into bicycles and motorcycles on May 22.

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